Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1887-08-26
Concluded from last soeek.
CLASSICAL CULTURE.
pY PROF. LEE DAVIS LODGE, A. NJ.

ny WHICH uldu COupIeueuus tne huiUc ouo
apprehends the Infinite, discovers truth and
discerns duty. Words, the winged messen
gers of thought, are themselves the pro-
| ducts of judgment. The laws which gov
ern their arrangement in sentences bring
the forms Of language into correspondence
with the forms of thought Every rule oil
grammar, therefore, is subtended by rule
of logic. The study Of language thus re-
quires the continuous exercise OF the rea-
soning faculty. When the pupil commences
| classical course, he begins to study the Two
most perfect pieces of mechanism that the
| acute and discriminating minds OF antiquity
could devise for the expression oil their
thoughts. He must learn the form and
| function OF each word While the mind
will be thoroughly drilled by mastering the
regular structure of the Greek and Latin
| etymologies, the intricate schemes OF syn
| tax, by which such nice distinctions were
drawn and such fine shades of meaning
| differentiated, will tax to the utmost his
reasoning powers. Let us think for mo-
ment Of the intellectual elements that enter
into the translation OF a sentence. Memory
supplies both the meanings OF the words and
the rules by which the student must con-
strue. Imagination unveils the pictures
which the language contains. The reason
discovers the relations that each word sus-
tains TO the rest of the sentence, determines
what case nouns, pronouns, adjectlves and
participles are in, and why; ascertalns the
voice, mood, tense, person and number oil
every verb, and gives the explanation here,
too, and finally, when this analytic process
Is ended, recombines all the parts of the
sentence in a complete synthesis. The effect
OF such studies must, of necessity, be TO train
the Judgment, so that it will act with ra-
pidity and precision. The habits of correct
thinking, thus acquired, will be of the great
est practical advantage to the student when
he leaves the college halls, and takes his
place in the complex life of modern civili-
cation. He may forget some OF the eccen-
trio beauties of the Greek verb, and some
of the exceptional nouns In the third de-
| CLEMSON of Latin may also slip away, but
that clarified mental visien, that logical
| method, that ability TO grasp subject at
once In its every relation, all Of which may
be gotten from the study OF the classics, es-
| pecially from such works as Platos dlalec.
| tics and Cicero's disquisitions, will ever aid
him in his struggle for fame and fortune
What better mental discipline could be de
| sired for young man than that which exer
cises every faculty, cultivates every power
and trains to habits of strictest attention ?
| These beneficial results are shared by all
without regard to calling in life, who faith
| fully study the classics. But If the student /:
ambitious to practice the thaumaturgic ar
OF forging the thunderbolts Of thought, le
him, especially, serve his apprenticeship
under the Vulcans of Greece and Rome
Minister and literary man, lawyer and states
man, all who hope TO live by tongue or per
will do well to seek in the pages OF classic lit
erature aid and inspiration for their labors.
A practical argument of great force for
classical culture is found in the fact, so sell
dom considered, that translation forms
large part of the business Of life. Whether
we speak or listen, whether we write oil
read, we are either translating thought into
words or words into thought From bad
| TRANSACTIONS, what tangled troubles come
Laws are nullified; wills are broken; angry
lawsuits are precipitated; business firms
smash; lovers part with streaming eyes and
broken hearts, and all because somebody
made blunder in language-did not know
how to translate Thorough linguistic study
tends to make one precise in the use OF words
as well as accurate in thought
Having thus noticed some of the ways IN
which classical culture disciplines the mind
l desire TO briefly present some evidences Of
the intrinsic value oil the information to be
acquired by such study. To the philo
sophie student, who has learned that the
| present can only be explained by knowl-
| edge of the past, the classics are invaluable
helps, because they are the keys that unlock
| for him the minds and hearts OF the men
who gave form and color 10 ancient clyili'
cation. The character of people is re-
flected in their language Words are but
the embodiment of thought; and "as a man
thinketh," says the inspired writer, 80 is
he" Many side-lights have been thrown
upon the nature, customs and history of the
Greeks and the Romans by the study of the
classics We have thus been enabled TO
sketch in outline the life of the Greeks in
the heroic age, and TO gain some idea of the
progress which the Romans had made in
civilization before the beginning of authentic
history. Greek and Latin also constitute an
important portion of the subject matter OF
philology, a science whose far-reaching gen.
civilizations have helped TO link mankind in
brotherhood, and have been of the highest
value to the anthropologist
The Importance Of classical culture may
be seen from another point of view. Our
own language, which is rich with the riches
of the world and wise with the worlds wis
dom, can not be perfectly understood, be-
cause it can not be known in its history,
until the student bee ,mes acquainted with
the classic tongues. To them we are in
debted for tens of thousands of our words.
"The well of English indebted" receives
much of its crystal water from the springs
of Italy and Greece AS reply TO the ques-
ton. frequently put to me by the students
in my classes, "what's the good of Latin,
am in the habit OF taking at random a
paragraph of the Roman author whom we
happen to be reading and then pointing out
the troops of English words derived from
the Latin in that particular paragraph. The
boys find the argument irresistible. One
volley OF such pathological shot is often
enough TO silence a whole battery OF objec-
tiens. 1t is wise, | think, to explain 10
students the practical advantages that will
accrue to them from q classical course. The
explanation may not suffice to remove the
dislike Of linguistic study natural to some.
Hate Latin and Greek they may, just as some
others hate mathematics or hate Science,
but, when boys see that so many old roots,
planted deep in Italy's sunlit fields, have
sent up their shoots through all the deposits
Of succeeding centuries and burst into bright.
colored blossoms of English speech, when
they learn that the warp and wool of French
and Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are
Latin, when they find all art animated with
classic spirit and all literature enamelled with
classic thought, their reason is convinced,
and they are compelled TO admit that, how.
ever irksome il may seem to them at times,
their classical course, II faithfully pursued,
will bring them rich rewards.
The collateral and incidental Information
acquired through classical study is Of great
importance. The student, If he would OBJ
tain full and philosophic knowledge OF the
classics, must strive to understand the times
In which the authors whose works he reads
fiourished, for men of genius are the out
growths and opponents Of their age He
must become familiar with the development
Of national history and the customs of So
cial life in Greece and Rome. He must
study with mingled reverence and pity that
mythology whose beautiful terms still live
In the literatures of all lands, glow on the
canvas Of the painter, and speak with
marble lips of sculpture. He must trace
the evolution of the Greek and Roman
minds along the lines Of the humanities. In
short, he must labor TO comprehend ancient
civilization in Its genesis and growth. By
what standard socver II may be judged,
such knowledge as this can not be rejected
as worthless.
Classical culture conlers upon us a price